Bob Chesney at UCLA: Former JMU coach must overcome the school to succeed

Q: What was Bob Chesney's coaching record at James Madison?

Bob Chesney compiled an 8-4 regular season record and won a bowl game during his time at James Madison.

Q: How did James Madison perform in the 2025 season under Bob Chesney?

In the 2025 season, James Madison lost only one game and won the Sun Belt Conference championship, earning a spot in the playoff field.

Q: What challenges will Bob Chesney face as head coach at UCLA?

Chesney will need to adapt to the different expectations and culture at UCLA, where success is measured differently than at James Madison.

Q: Why did Bob Chesney leave James Madison for UCLA?

Chesney left James Madison for UCLA after a successful tenure, which included leading the Dukes to significant achievements in the 2025 season.

Bob Chesney at UCLA: Former JMU coach must overcome the school to succeed originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Bob Chesney was a good coach at Holy Cross in Massachusetts. This left James Madison to hire him away when Curt Cignetti left the Dukes to head to Indiana and the Hoosiers. Taking most of his roster with him.

Despite these defections, Chesney was able to rebuild the Dukes and compile an 8-4 regular season record and win his first bowl game as an FBS coach in the Boca Raton Bowl. His second year is what got him the UCLA position to replace DeShaun Foster.

In 2025, James Madison lost only one game in the regular season. A 14-point road loss to Louisville. They ran off an undefeated Sul Belt season and won the conference championship game to become the second Group of Six team to make the playoff field in 2025. Tulane, who played a harder schedule, received the 11-seed while James Madison, by virtue of being the fourth-highest ranked conference winner, got the 12-seed and a trip to Eugene, Oregon.

The game did not go as planned as the Dukes lost 51-34, but the ability to put up 34 on a solid Ducks defense was a feat in itself. In Brentwood, success will be measured differently than it was in Harrisonburg. James Madison’s students and community attend games, donate money and are completely invested in James Madison athletics.

For UCLA, the administration cares less about the football team than the fans even do. And the fans couldn't care less. It is all about basketball at UCLA and the football team is given the leftovers. This will not be a job with lofty expectations when compared to other schools in the Big Ten. They do not have the financial resources or the university backing needed to move into the upper echelon of the Big Ten. The most the Bruins and Chesney can hope for is to remain in bowl contention on a yearly basis and hope to get to eight wins every cycle.

To get to a bowl game this season, the Bruins will need to overachieve. FanDuel Sports book currently lists UCLA over/under at 5.5 wins, meaning anything less than going over means sitting home for another postseason. If the bowl season contracts like it should and is looking to do, UCLA will find it even harder to make the postseason in future years.

The real measure of success in the first year under Chesney will be if he is able to bring out the talent inside QB Nico Iamaleava. Something we saw at the end of his freshman season at Tennessee but have rarely seen since.

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Iamaleava was expected to be a three-year player at Tennessee after signing out of high school with the first major NIL contract to be publicized. After failing to live up to the hype and still demanding a pay raise, Iamaleava left to transfer to UCLA. Along with his younger brother, Madden, who left Arkansas at the same time. He again failed to live up to his potential in 2025 as the Bruins went 3-9, with the only accomplishment being that their win over Penn State was the catalyst for James Franklin getting fired just a week later.

If Chesney can make Iamaleava into a good quarterback who can get drafted into the NFL in the first round, recruits will see this. This could in turn lead to better recruits looking at the school and the perfect weather of Los Angeles when making their decisions. If the school decides to finally care, it would be even better. Just do not tell Mick Cronin you are taking anything from the basketball team. He is angry enough already.